1. Scripting SDK

LINQ queries

This section describes how to create queries to find specific entities in Sitecore Content Hub. The query object itself does not do querying but it describes the conditions of the querying. The querying client is responsible for executing the queries.

Get started with LINQ

The recommended way to create queries is to use LINQ. If you are unfamiliar with LINQ, have a look at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/concepts/linq/get-started-with-linq.

To fully use LINQ querying, make sure to have the following usings:

using System.Linq;
using Stylelabs.M.Base.Querying;
using Stylelabs.M.Base.Querying.Linq;

Template

The LINQ template is as follows:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where [conditions]
  orderby [property] ascending | descending
  select e);

Multiple conditions in the where clause can be chained by using &&.

orderby can be used to order results based on certain (system) properties, either ascending or descending. Multiple orderby statements can be used for more complex ordering.

Supported entity filters

The following filters on entities are supported for LINQ querying.

System properties

  • Id (long)

  • Identifier (long)

  • Definition

    • id (long)

    • name (string)

  • Created by

    • user id (long)

    • user name (string)

  • Modified by

    • user id (long)

    • user name (string)

  • Created on (DateTime)

  • Modified on (DateTime)

For example, to filter on ID:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Id == entityId
  select e);

Entity members

  • Property value (also supports filtering on values in specific cultures)

  • Relations (can be filtered on parent ID only)

For example, to filter on a property value:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Property("Title") == "Logo"
  select e);
Note

You can use various operators with your LINQ queries.

System properties

Depending on the system property data type:

  • long: ==, !=

  • string: ==, !=

  • DateTime: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=

For example, to filter entities modified after the specified date:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.ModifiedOn > dateTime
  select e);

Properties

Depending on the property data type:

  • string: ==, !=

  • int: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=

  • long: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=

  • decimal: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=

  • bool: ==, !=

  • DateTime: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=

  • DateTimeOffset: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=

For example, to filter entities where the title is not "Logo":

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Property("Title") != "Logo"
  select e);

Additional property filters

The 'in' filter

The In filter allows specifying a collection or comma separated values that, it allows filtering on multiple values instead of a single one.

The In filter is supported on:

  • Entity id

  • Entity identifier

  • Property values

  • Relation values (parent IDs only)

Let's find the entities where the title is set to "Logo" or "Poster":

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Property("Title").In("Logo", "Poster")
  select e);

String filters

String properties support some additional filters:

  • Contains: the value must contain the specified substring.

  • StartsWith: the value must start with the specified substring.

  • EndsWith: the value must end with the specified substring.

These filters are not case sensitive.

The following query can be used to find all entities with a Title property that contains "logo".

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Property("Title").Contains("logo")
  select e);

Supported orderings

Ordering is supported on:

  • Entity ID

  • Entity identifier

  • Definition ID

  • Definition name

  • Created by user ID

  • Created by user name

  • Modified by user ID

  • Modified by user name

  • Created on

  • Modified on

  • Property values

For example, to order assets on creation date, and then by title:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.DefinitionName == "M.Asset"
  orderby e.CreatedOn ascending
  orderby e.Property("Title") ascending
  select e);

Select options

Currently only load and configuration operations are support on the select clause.

Load options and configurations

The following select options are supported:

  • InCultures: loads entities in specified cultures.

  • WithProperties: loads specified properties on the entities.

  • WithRelations: loads specified relations on the entities.

  • LoadConfiguration: loads entities with specified load configurations.

Multiple of these select options can be chained. The last operation will always overwrite the previous one where applicable.

In this example, we start from the default query load configuration (loads default culture, all properties and no relations) and we add the AssetTypeToAsset relation. The WithRelations overwrites the relation load option on the load configuration set earlier.

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where [conditions]
  select e.LoadConfiguration(QueryLoadConfiguration.Default)
  .WithRelations(new RelationLoadOption("AssetTypeToAsset")));

Result operators

skip (skip the first x entities) and take (return x entities) are also supported when using LINQ:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  (from e in entities
  where [your conditions]
  select e)
  .Skip(5)
  .Take(5));

This orders the entities by ID descending, skips the first 5 entities (the 5 newest entities) and then returns the next 5 entities.

Examples

The following is a list of examples. Most of these examples are very simple and self explanatory. Examples tend to be more complex towards the end.

By ID

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Id == entityId
  select e);

By identifier

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Identifier == entityIdentifier
  select e);

By definition ID

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.DefinitionId == definitionId
  select e);

By definition name

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.DefinitionName == "M.Asset"
  select e);

By created by user ID

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.CreatedById == demoUserId
  select e);

By created by user name

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.CreatedByUsername == "M.Demo.User"
  select e);

By modified by user ID

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.ModifiedById == demoUserId
  select e);

By modified by user name

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.ModifiedByUsername == "M.Demo.User"
  select e);

By created on

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.CreatedOn == dateTime
  select e);

Also possible between two dates:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.CreatedOn  minDateTime && e.CreatedOn  maxDateTime
  select e);

By modified on

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.ModifiedOn == dateTime
  select e);

Also possible between two dates:

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.ModifiedOn  minDateTime && e.ModifiedOn  maxDateTime
  select e);

By property value

Finds all entities with a property Title that is set to "Logo".

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Property("Title") == "Logo"
  select e);

By property value in specific culture

Finds all entities with a property Description that is set to "Hello world!" in the English culture.

CultureInfo enUs = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US");
var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Property("Description", enUs) == "Hello world!"
  select e);

By relation parent value

The parent property can be accessed on the entity object to query on a specified relation. Querying on relations requires the relation name and the parent ID to be specified.

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  from e in entities
  where e.Parent("AssetTypeToAsset") == assetTypeId
  select e);

A more advanced query

The following query gets the last 10 assets made by M.Demo.User, where the title is Logo.

var query = Query.CreateQuery(entities => 
  (from e in entities
   where e.DefinitionName == "M.Asset"
   && e.Property("Title") == "Logo"
   && e.CreatedByUsername == "M.Demo.User"
   orderby e.CreatedOn descending
   select e)
  .Take(10));
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